Convalescence
by Mimic Teruyo
Summary: When Alice discovers Marisa unconscious on the floor following a failed magical experiment, she reacts quickly. However, it is possible things wil never be exactly as they were before...


"Open up, Marisa! I know you're in there."

Alice banged on Marisa's door again, and once more when there was no answer.

"Marisa!" She could practically feel her blood pressure rising. It wasn't unprecedented that Marisa would unexpectedly cancel one of their meetings, but usually when Alice showed up when Marisa had bolted, whether to solve an incident or in search of another component to finish her never-ending quest for true magician-hood, she would discover a cheeky note plastered on the door. This time, there was nothing, and given the sodden laundry hanging from a clothesline tied to the ceiling, if Marisa had left, it had been in a great hurry. Of course, that would explain the lack of a note.

Alice swore under her breath. There was no incident to solve as far as she knew, a rarity to Gensoukyou, and Alice wasn't about to tolerate Marisa behaving like her adventures were more significant than at least giving Alice an advance warning when cancelling their plans together. Especially not when she had set a firm deadline to how long she would allow Marisa to borrow one of her tomes on the alchemical theory.

Alice's eyes narrowed. She would get the grimoire back today, one way or another.

She beckoned one of her dolls to her and handed it a bent metal rod she had taken with her in case Marisa would prove uncooperative, and guided the doll to the lock. Within moments, there was a satisfying click, and Alice pushed the door open.

Or at least, she tried to. The space in front of the door was so full of assorted rubbish, magical and otherwise, that Alice could barely crack the door open and get a whiff of the musty air within. She rolled her eyes.

"Have you ever heard of shelves? Or cupboards? Or not living in a pigsty?" She muttered under her breath.

It took the strength of both her and all the dolls she had with her to push the door open enough to slip the dolls in, after which it was simply a matter of manoeuvring all the objects by the door out of the way. Soon enough the dolls had removed the debris that created the makeshift barricade, and Alice opened the door wide open, wrinkling her nose at the sight that awaited her.

"Honestly," she sighed, looking at the sea of mess. Glimmering stones, rusty tools, countless books in various shapes and conditions, some with bookmarks, others strewn around wide open. Countless knick-knacks that Marisa had pilfered for no other reason but to sate her kleptomania, and genuinely valuable and useful articles carelessly mixed together to create pure chaos.

Alice made her dolls push it all aside from her path to the table. If Marisa was going to complain about Alice disrupting her things, she was welcome to do so after Alice had gotten her book back.

"Search," she commanded, and twisted her finger to set the dolls into motion. Her mute servants scattered across the room as she sat down by the table, idly controlling the dolls as she eyed the things on the table. Several books, two of them open, a dried-out inkwell that had still been half full (Alice clicked her tongue) with an ink brush sticking out of it, a full cup of stone cold tea, and several charts with paragraphs after paragraphs of Marisa's illegible scribblings in the margins. The notes got messier and more hurried the further they kept going. From that, Alice assumed Marisa had either been rushed to write down the thing on her mind before dashing off, or on the brink of a breakthrough.

She shifted one of the charts, revealing a small pile of books. Her eyes caught sight of a familiar spine.

"Hello there," she mumbled, taking the tome out of the pile and holding it victoriously. "I hope this was of help to you, but I'll be taking it back now, thank you very much."

She tucked the tome under her armpit, right next to her grimoire. She considered leaving Marisa a note explaining what she had done, but decided otherwise. As tempted as she was to see Marisa return to discover a snide remark about both her reliability and cleaning abilities, she would discover that someone had visited as soon as she returned home regardless, and figure out it had been Alice just as quickly. Rather, she chose to discard the ruined tea, and perhaps clean around a little. Marisa wouldn't appreciate it much, or if she did she chose to show it but making her home a mess again in a matter of hours, but Alice's personal sense of order and hygiene compelled her to at least try. She grabbed the mug and made her way towards the sink.

It was fortunate she didn't have a tendency to drop things she was holding when she was shocked, because else she would have dropped both the teacup and the books when she walked past the big pile of objects by the overladen bookshelf, and saw a limp hand peeking from behind the debris.

Alice's blood ran cold. She left all she was carrying on the bookshelf and beckoned her dolls towards herself. She crept towards the hand, and soon saw what she had expected to see, but which still made her heart stop. Marisa lay strewn on the ground, limbs askew, pale as death. Her eyes were firmly shut, and a trickle of dried blood had escaped from her parted mouth.

For a second, Alice couldn't move. The next, before she could think, she found herself kneeling by what she feared was Marisa's corpse, her own face as ashen as Marisa's.

"Oh no, oh no no no..." With shaking hands, Alice took Marisa's hand into hers — stone cold — and laid her head against her chest.

For a few tormenting seconds, she could hear nothing. Then, mercifully, a heartbeat rang, slow and weak but undoubtedly real. She sighed in relief, then got back up and placed her hand on Marisa's forehead, pushing aside forelocks wet with cold sweat, her other hand still interlocked with Marisa's

"What have you done to yourself, Marisa?" she whispered, wishing for an answer but expecting none. Marisa's hand remained limp, her eyes shut. Her forehead was clammy, but cold. Out of options and desperate for answers, Alice looked around, and saw on the ground by Marisa's feet several glass shards, and a bright pink stain that seemed to glow in the dim room. She eyed the liquid stain suspiciously, then sighed and twisted her wrist to give the dolls and new command.

With the aid of her troops, she managed to haul Marisa to her bed with little issue — the human magician had always been light, and after however long she had already been lying on the ground without food or drink she was even lighter. Alice carefully covered her with blankets, and arranged the pillow to be comfortable as possible. When Marisa still showed no signs of stirring, but also showed no further signs of agitation, Alice settled for leaving her lying there and went back to the broken glass and the strange stain.

She dared not touch it with her bare hand, but she managed to scrape some of the pink substance with one of the miniature lances of her dolls and gave it a sniff. Any smell it had was very mild, anything, but the faint odour of burning leaves fanned the flames of suspicion. She gave the lance back to the doll and picked up her books. After leaving a glass of water and one of her dolls to stand in vigil by Marisa's slumbering form, she dispatched another doll to send Reimu a message, then left the cottage herself, heading to the Bamboo Forest.

* * *

"Twice a day for the next five days," Eirin Yagokoro said as she handed to Alice ten small pouches of medicinal powder. "The substance she consumed is difficult to neutralise in the body as frail as that of a human. Otherwise it could be done in one dose."

Alice took the pouches and bowed gratefully. "Thank you. Is there anything I should know about her condition or the thing she drank?"

Eirin turned towards her rabbit assistant who too had arrived and was carrying the nurse's satchel. "I analysed the substance, naturally, to create the antidote." A slight frown appeared on her countenance. "It was a rather unusual toxin, created with some very uncommon substances. I believe she either made it herself, or discovered it among the," she nodded at the chaos that was Marisa's earthly possessions, "curios she has. What compelled her to drink it, however, you shall have to ask her."

"I shall." Alice hesitated. "Do you know when she'll wake up?"

Eirin shrugged. "At once, if she were a Lunarian. I could wake her up with an injection now that she's stabilised, but not without risk of brain damage, disorientation and speech issues. However, she will wake up on her own after some time, a day at most. Will you be able to look after her or shall I leave Udonge with you?"

Alice shook her head. "I believe I will manage from here. Thank you very much."

"You may send me a message if something unexpected happens, but she should survive with very little permanent damage."

Alice's stomach lurched as the implication of Eirin's words set in. "Wait. When you say very little permanent damage, do you mean to say there will be some permanent damage?"

Eirin, who had already been packing up her things, with her assistant already halfway through the door, turned around. "Some, most likely. It remains to be seen for when she wakes up."

And with that, they left, leaving Alice alone with Marisa and her thoughts.

* * *

Alice waited the whole night by Marisa's bedside, finally dozing off in the armchair in the wee hours of morning. When she was awoken by rays of noon sun shining into her eyes through the dusty window, she went to make herself a cup of tea, her dolls preparing a late breakfast.

She returned to Marisa fluttering her eyes, and once again only her impeccable composure in surprising situations spared the plate and mug she was carrying. She abandoned the food and drink and rushed to Marisa's side just as she opened her eyes.

Marisa blinked hesitantly, wrinkling her nose at the bright light shining through the opened curtains. Her eyes fell on Alice. "Alice?"

Alice sighed inwardly in relief. The way Eirin had spoken of her condition, despite of her assurances that the potential damage wouldn't be crippling, Alice had half expected Marisa to wake up slurring her words and not recognising Alice. The familiar spark of intelligence in Marisa's eyes immediately set her mind at ease, as much as she knew they weren't truly in the clear yet. "It's me. How are you feeling?"

"I've felt better." Marisa fell silent, her face wrinkling into a deep frown. Then, with a weak shrug and a grin that would have shocked Alice if she hadn't been so familiar with Marisa, she continued: "I suppose it didn't work quite as planned."

Alice felt a stab of annoyance. "Not only did your little plan fail, but you nearly killed yourself. Explain yourself or I shall be obligated to leave and never come back."

Marisa closed her eyes, placed her tremulous hand on her forehead, and sighed. "Sure, sure. Can I have a glass of water first?"

It only took Alice a moment to have the dolls fetch her a glass, and then it was only a matter of helping Marisa to sit up and to make sure the glass stayed in her hand as she drank. Marisa drank so greedily Alice urged her to slow down lest she make herself sick, but Marisa shook her head and finished the glass.

"Thanks," she said, handing the glass back and lying back down. She stayed quiet for a moment, string at the ceiling, then said: "I'm hungry."

Alice rolled her eyes. "I'm making us a meal. Meanwhile, it's time for explanations. How did you end up poisoning yourself?"

"Right." Was it just Alice's imagination, or did Marisa smile at her words? She sat back into the armchair, changing the meal plan from breakfast from lunch and setting her dolls into work chopping onions and preparing a broth.

"The thing I drank was supposed to be the Elixir of Ether."

Alice's eyes widened. "The Elixir of Ether?" The Elixir of Ether was one of the most potent magical potions known to earth. "How on earth did you manage to get your hands on— oh, right. You didn't."

Marisa chuckled. "Yeah, I didn't."

Alice sighed and hid her eyes behind her hand. "What on earth possessed you to risk your life drinking something that was supposedly an elixir that only exists in legends? There is boldness, and then there is folly. What were the odds it was anything but a fake, no matter where you got it?"

"Well, it wasn't a fake in that sense of the word, you know. I made it myself. One of the ingredients was probably a fake." Marisa nodded towards the table. "You can see the recipe I came up with for yourself."

Alice sighed. Trying to create Elixir of Ether was sheer insanity, something only the most ridiculous, brilliant, and messed up minds would ever even attempt. She walked to the table, shuffling through the charts until she rediscovered the one with the most scribblings, and identified the messy symbols on the right margin as a detailed list. "This one? I can't read your handwriting."

"Probably. I can't tell from this far."

Alice did what she could to decipher the clumsy kana and downright unidentifiable kanji. She recognised the names some very obscure and valuable substances, many of which were so rare even Gensoukyou didn't have a ready supply of them. "Did you simply draft up a list of all the most difficult to find magical components and hope for the best?"

Marisa laughed, her laughter turning into a hoarse cough. "Maybe next time I should try doing just that," she croaked, still smiling. "but nah, I put some real research effort into that sucker. Thanks for the book you gave me—"

"Lend," Alice interjected automatically.

"Lend me. Couldn't have decided on blue ginseng without it." Marisa leaned back into her pillows. "I'm still pretty confident in the recipe, really. I think the problem was with the powdered kirin horn. Kourin said that the youkai who sold it to him looked less like a kirin down on her luck and more like some sort of a trickster youkai with a fake sheared-off horn. But where was I going to get more powder? I don't know of a single kirin who still lives in Gensoukyou."

"And you put that muck in your body anyway without being sure what it truly was?" Alice asked incredulously. "I'm starting to regret saving you. Clearly you deserve what you got."

Marisa grinned. "Maybe so." She yawned. "In my defence, the elixir turned out exactly as I had predicted and all the legends tell. If the powder was a fake, it was a damn good one. Maybe it was the dried udumbara petal instead that was fake."

Alice facepalmed. "The gods are testing me."

"It's fine, really. All's well that ends well, and I'm alive to give it another shot." Marisa's grin faded ever so slightly. "Dunno if I'll ever be able to collect all the ingredients again unless I strike up some sort of a deal with Princess Kaguya and ask her to find a bunch of new wannabe suitors and make new impossible requests. But if it doesn't work out," she looked Alice in the eye, as cheerful as ever, "there's always some other route I can take instead."

"There's a fine line between optimism and sheer bull-headedness, you know," Alice responded coolly, but even so she was unable to keep the smile off her countenance. In this instance, Marisa's happy-go-lucky attitude was infectious.

However, a lingering doubt gnawed in the back of her mind. All seemed to be well for now, yes, but she couldn't quite shake off Eirin's earlier warnings. Of course, it was possible even the great brain of the moon was wrong every once in a while, but still Alice had to wonder...

"Food's done," she said, both as an announcement and to distract herself from her thoughts. "Can you sit by the table? You shouldn't take your medicine into an empty stomach, but you should also take it now. How about you eat half now and take the medicine then?"

"I have to take medicine? The fun never ends." With some help from Alice, Marisa was able to get on two feet and wobble to the table the dolls had made.

"There," she said, leaning back on the chair and taking a few deep breaths. She turned towards Alice. "Thanks, Alice."

"If you really want thank me, next time think twice before foolishly risking your life."

Marisa grinned, with a tinge of repentance. "I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Several days later, after her first night spent at home in quite some while, Alice returned at the crack of dawn to see how Marisa was faring. Her condition had steadily improved during the last few days, to the point where she had cheerily escorted Alice halfway to her home the night before. There was no real reason for concern, not after seeing the steady improvement, but Eirin's words still lingered on in Alice's mind.

To her surprise, Marisa was already up and awake. She sat in the doorway, head in hands, looking ponderous.

"Someone's up early," Alice said, foregoing the usual greetings. "Are you well?"

Marisa nodded, not really looking at Alice. "Yeah. Hi." She she looked and gave Alice a serious glance. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Depends on what it is."

"It's no biggie, I swear." Marisa plunged her hand into her pocket and retrieved her spellcard deck. "Can you spar with me? A quick three against three match, really short timers, no frills?"

Alice blinked. "Are you sure you should go around fighting so soon after your illness?"

"I'll stop if it starts hurting. Magician's honour. I just need to check something."

"Very well, then." Truth be told, it had been a while since Alice had participated in combat, and there was an itch she longed to scratch, a desire for some light banter and duelling. She retrieved her own deck and selected three cards. "Ready whenever you are."

Marisa placed the cards she hadn't selected back into their holding place and took her familiar stance. However, her characteristic smile was nowhere to be seen. Rather, her face was knit in intent concentration, with a side order of worry.

Alice didn't pause to think about the expression. "Suicide Squad!" Flaming dolls homed at Marisa from the spell circle that appeared above Alice's head. Marisa leapt smoothly out of the way and declared her own card.

"Star Sign: Polaris Unique!" she called loudly. Alice braced her muscles, preparing for a quick dodge. However, it proved unnecessary. Instead of the usual large star, all that manifested were a few blue sparks and undefined particles that soon vanished. Alice paused to stare.

"Keep going," Marisa said, her face impassive, hands hanging by her sides. Alice hesitated, then declared Soldier of Cross. Again, Marisa dodged the bullets the dolls shot at her, although with less of a margin of error, then raised her second card, the pose same as ever, but with none of the exuberant joy that normally abounded in the human magician during fights.

"Orreries Universe!" This card fared even more poorly, resulting in barely more than a puff of smoke. Alice and Marisa looked at one another.

"Go ahead," Marisa said, nudging her head. "You still have one card left."

Alice sighed. "No, just go ahead. Use your third card."

Marisa remained still for a moment, then nodded in acquiescence. She searched for pockets and pulled out her mini-hakkero, and as she raised the card to declare it she brought the mini-hakkero to her lips.

"MASTER SPARK!" With a powerful motion, Marisa thrust her mini-hakkero towards Alice, some of her usual energy finally visible. The miniature oven set forward sparks, and Alice could see the heat and magic within growing. She prepared to lunge to the side, but not without certain reservation. Although everything seemed to go as planned, there was no denying the failure the previous two cards had been.

The initial guiding beam appeared as it always did, bright and clear, and Alice began to shuffle to the side. Then there a flash of light, and despite her doubts Alice half expected to see the familiar and unstoppable burst of sheer force turn the world around her white.

There was a light, and a short burst of light. Them, the mini-hakkero sputtered and faltered, and the light dimmed and slowly faded. The laser dissipated without ever coming close to reaching Alice, let alone to engulfing the whole area as it was supposed to.

Marisa looked quietly at the mini-hakkero. Then, she looked at Alice.

* * *

"The cause is clear enough," Eirin said, putting her ampoules away. "As you can probably surmise yourself, it is an after-effect of the toxin."

"So what's the problem, exactly?" Marisa asked, frowning. "It's not like I've forgotten how to cast spells or something."

Eirin sighed. "To put it in common parlance," she said, "the toxin that you consumed has severed the ties between your magical channels and your brain. Even if you know how to do it, you cannot do it until you find a way to repair the channels or develop new ones."

Marisa blanched. "And what does that actually mean?"

"Yes. It means that from this day forward, you shall be just like any human who is not particularly adept in magic, or as any novice who has the necessary knowledge, but not the skill to put it into action."

"Uhh, can you repeat that?" Marisa asked.

Eirin quirked an eyebrow. "Was that too complicated to you?"

"Nah, but...are you seriously telling me my magical abilities are back to what they were when I was a kid?"

"Not quite, as you still retain the technical knowledge that you presumably didn't have as a child. However, yes, I do believe you understood the salient points of what I related to you. Your ability to cast spells is roughly at the level of a non-magical eight-year-old, perhaps slightly advanced since you can rely on spell cards and some magical augmentations. However, while it will not be easy even the second time around, you will grow powerful faster than you did when you first learned: the network for channelling magic is already within you and doesn't have to be created from nothing. The network is merely damaged and severed from your nervous system. You can rebuild the neuron connections," Marisa frowned at the unfamiliar jargon, "with enough practice. However, I suggest that you avoid spell card duels for the time being, let alone other battles, or else you may discover you're losing to fairies."

Marisa was silent for a long while. Alice hesitated, desperately trying to think of something to say. Before she could, however, to her immense surprise Marisa suddenly beamed at Eirin.

"Can't be helped, eh?" Marisa said cheerfully, jumping off her chair and dusting off her apron. "Well, no point crying over spilt milk. Marisa Kirisame may have taken a slight step back, but she will rise again." She showed off all her teeth. "What the hell, I still have time. Now that I have an excuse to practice, well, soon I'll be stronger than I ever was before."

Eirin nodded approvingly. "That is a healthy outlook. However, make sure not to over-exert yourself: if you don't watch yourself, you could cause yourself further damage and slow down your recuperation by months. Four hours of magical practice a day is your absolute limit for the time being."

"Don't sweat it, doc," Marisa said brightly, gyrating her arm. "I won't do anything that will slow me down."

"Good," Eirin bowed shortly. "If you will excuse me, I promised the Princess I would join her to see a play the rabbits have put together for her amusement. The Adventures of the Bunny of Mallet Hill, I believe it's called. Best regards." She walked swiftly to the door, and bowed gently at the tiny doll that opened the front door to her.

When Eirin was gone and the door shut again, Alice turned towards Marisa. She half suspected that the excessive cheerfulness Marisa had exhibited while Eirin was there was but a front, and that the human magician was in fact devastated by the fruit of several years of hard labour withering away. However, even now Marisa was smiling, although in a more subdued way.

"Nothing to be done but to keep going, eh?" She said when she noticed Alice's stare, chuckling.

"You seem awfully nonchalant about it."

"Yeah, well." Marisa shrugged. "It's like I said. If there is nothing to be done than to rebuild, I'm gonna rebuild. And it's easier to do that by staying optimistic about it."

"I suppose."

"What's with the doubt?" Marisa laughed. "Really, it's fine. I'll just have to get my head down to it and it should be a cakewalk."

"Sure." Alice didn't doubt Marisa's ability to recover her skills, but she was too busy trying to distinguish whether Marisa's expression was a mask or not to give more than stock responses. "Just remember that Eirin told you to take it easy."

"Of course, of course." Marisa clapped her hands together. "Well, I'm hungry. Wanna stay for an afternoon lunch? I'm making mushroom soup."

Alice pulled a face. "Without toadstools this time, I hope? I think we've had enough poison to last us for lifetime this week."

"I keep telling you, that was an accident." Marisa traipsed towards the stove. "At least that made for a brilliant story. And so does the bogus elixir thing, actually. Hopefully there'll be another party soon so I can boast about it." She giggled. "Although perhaps not until I manage to regain my strength."

Alice quirked an eyebrow. "So that no-one takes revenge on you in your weakened state for blasting them into oblivion and stealing their valuable possessions? Because in that case, you will have to avoid three thirds of the residents of Gensoukyou before you can show your face around again." She immediately regretted her words, fearing she had hit a sore spot, but Marisa merely laughed.

"Got it on the first one. Anyway, food first, cramming session later."

"Want me to help with chopping up the mushrooms?"

"That'd be great."

It only took Alice a moment to set up an efficient chain of dolls simultaneously chopping up mushrooms, onions, and carrots for the soup with their tiny blades and axes. Marisa went out to fetch water, then put it all into a large cauldron and began lobbing ingredients into it. She hummed cheerfully.

Alice's head was spinning. Was it really possible Marisa was taking the news as well as she appeared to be? Alice couldn't perceive a single crack in her smile, or any issue with her mood. Was she truly accepting what had happened? Even now, Alice had her doubts, but she made her mind to keep them to herself unless Marisa brought something up first. Until then, well, she would cook with her, and eat lunch with her and perhaps even lend her more books, assuming she'd be able to retrieve them later.

* * *

"Marisa?" Alice knocked on the door, then unlocked it with the spare key Marisa had given her after the incident when there was no response. The door opened smoothly, now that Alice had made an effort to remove the mounds of rubbish from around it.

From a quick glance, she couldn't tell whether Marisa was home or not, but given that it was morning, odds were she was in. The bed looked perfectly made — Alice's eyes narrowed — so well made Alice instantly assumed Marisa hadn't used since Alice had made it for her the previous day. She walked over to Marisa's study.

There, by the desk covered in books and tomes of all sort, scrolls, and a precariously placed candle almost fully burnt, Marisa half sat, half slouched, poring over a grimoire with yellowed pages and questionable stains in the margins, squinting and leaning ever closer the tiny text in the scant light.

Alice made her dolls slam the door into the opposite wall, creating a satisfying bang. It was enough to rouse Marisa from her studies, leading to her dropping the dried-out quill pen in her hand and looking around her, blinking like an owl. Alice couldn't help but notice the dark circles around her eyes.

"Alice?" Marisa pinched the bridge of her nose, a gesture Alice knew meant she was trying to regroup herself. "Is it morning already?"

Alice nodded, frowning. "Have you slept at all? When is the last time you ate? Exactly how is this looking after your health?"

"Ah, geez." Marisa avoided directly looking at Alice's eyes. "It's cool, really. I've pulled all-nighters all my life, and it's not like I'm over-exhausting myself with physical practice. I'm just studying."

"Even if you're used to pulling all-nighters, you haven't usually done them while your health is compromised." Alice clapped her hands together. "That's it." With a flick of her wrist, Alice made Shanghai put a bookmark on the open book and push it shut. "Get up. You will ruin your eyes if you do nothing but read by candlelight the whole night, and sitting in this stuffy room will do your health no favours. First you're going to have something to eat, then you're going to take a nap, and then we're going outside to get some fresh air."

Marisa chuckled wryly. "You're a regular boss, huh? Not even Lady Mima ordered me around like that."

"Very funny. Get to the table. I'll fix you something."

"Right, right." Marisa pushed herself from the table and slouched towards the table. On her way past Alice, she briefly got onto her toes and gave Alice a light peck on the cheek.

"Thanks for everything," she murmured, then walked into the main room.

"Really now..." Alice raised her hand to her cheek, feeling her face redden. She stomped after Marisa.

There wasn't much that was edible in Marisa's pantry, and Alice cursed herself for leaving someone as irresponsible as Marisa to look after herself while she was in the state as she was. Still, she was able to prepare some dodgy sandwiches, and a more than adequate cup of tea, and sat down opposite Marisa as the witch munched down the sandwiches and gratefully gulped down the tea.

"Thanks," she said once she was done.

Alice nodded. "Then, sleep."

Marisa chuckled again. "Fine, Mom."

"Don't even joke about that."

Marisa slumped onto the bed without further complaints, not bothering either with removing her clothes nor with the blankets. Alice tucked her in as well as she could while she was lying on top of the covers, then sat down in the armchair to wait. Marisa was a fitful sleeper, she knew, and even if she was exhausted she would no doubt wake up in a matter of hours. Until then, Alice could entertain herself by reading one of her books.

She felt a familiar hand gently shake her by the shoulder, and heard Marisa's voice call her name. It took her a moment to realise she had dozed off, and when she opened her eyes, based on the rays of sunlight seeping into the cottage it was already early afternoon.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Marisa said, grinning. Not a trace of her earlier exhaustion could be seen. How Marisa could fully rest in so little time, Alice would never understand.

"Very funny." Alice suppressed a yawn and rubbed her eyes to remove vestiges of drowsiness.

"This isn't like you. Have you been staying up late?"

"What do you think? I've been running around the whole week trying to look after you."

Marisa grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Never mind that, now. What was the next item on the list?"

"Nothing, as far as I recall."

Alice glared at Marisa. "You know as well as I do that it was a walk outside."

"Why do you ask if you already know the answer?" Marisa sighed, but stood up without protest. "'Kay, let's go. Maybe working my muscles will help me to come up with something new."

"Didn't I just tell you to take a break?"

Marisa laughed. "Not from thinking." She took one look at Alice's face and added. "Okay, gotcha. Let's go, then."

Alice huffed and regally walked outside, expecting Marisa to follow. She did, thankfully, and once she had slammed the door shut, she took to Alice's side and flashed a winsome smile at her.

"So, where are we heading?" she asked.

Alice shrugged. "I have no particular goal in mind." She pointed east. "How about we take that forest path?"

"Sure. I don't think I've ever seen exactly where that eventually leads. Maybe today's the day."

They walked in silence for the next several minutes. Light filtered gently through the tree branches, painting the ferns and flowers by the side of the road with dabs of light. Marisa kept looking around curiously, possibly searching for promising mushrooms. Forest fairies could be seen cavorting amidst the trees, giggling and playing tag with each other.

"We should have taken a picnic basket with us."

"Ah?" Alice was shaken away from her thoughts. "Yes. Perhaps next time."

"Yeah."

They continued onwards. Alice couldn't think of anything to say that wasn't completely banal, so she waited for Marisa to break the silence again. She caught the expression on Marisa's countenance. A calm smile was frozen on it, but her eyes were dull with uncharacteristic pensiveness. Streaks of sunlight made her hair gleam like gold and gave her face a bright hue, further contrasting with her normally luminous eyes.

They came across a hill, and slowly plodded along until they reached the top of it, then simultaneously slowed down to admire the view.

"The forest looks really nice like this, huh?" Marisa said quietly, looking down at the sea of trees surrounding them.

"Indeed." Something was in the air. Alice could feel it, but there wasn't much she could do besides wait for the eventual outcome.

Marisa stretched her arms upwards, arching her back like a particularly satisfied cat. She slumped back down with a sigh, then looked up at the thick clouds slowly floating towards them from the west.

"Did you know that I don't actually have any talent for magic?" she suddenly asked.

Alice frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, even though I hate to brag," Marisa grinned immediately after saying those words, and Alice too couldn't keep herself from smiling at such a bald-faced lie, "I'm pretty clever. I'm good at figuring out the gist of things, and I also had a really good mentor. I also don't mind working hard when I have a specific goal in mind. I'm actually not saying this to brag," The earlier grin returned, slightly muted, "or at least, not just to brag. I'm trying to say that I have a lot of things going for me, all in all."

Alice waited for the other shoe to drop.

Marisa shook her head, a ghost of her previous smile lingering on, quite mismatched with the despondent glaze in her eyes. "But in the end, the fact remains I have no talent for magic. I've learned to work around it, to figure out other ways to amplify my skills, to boost what little magical power I have to its breaking point. Of course, it would all have changed once I became a real magician," a shade of wistfulness crept into her tone, "but since it's now looks like I'm almost back to square one..."

Alice stared. "This isn't like you."

Marisa grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"I didn't mean you have to stop." Alice hesitated for a moment, then added. "If you want to talk about it, I'll gladly listen. It's no inconvenience."

"Have I ever told you that you're too good for me?" Marisa asked, laughing. For a few moments, she balanced on the balls of her feet, chuckling. Then, the laughter ceded, and her earlier pensive look returned.

"Really though, I feel like all my strength has drained away. I looked back at what I did six months ago, spells I wasn't even that proud of, and think about even those are more than I could manage at the moment. Looking at spells I was actually happy with, well," Marisa shook her head with a sardonic smile on her face, "right now I can't cast them even with the mini-hakkero. It just feels like I've been pushed back by several years of hard work, you know? And of course, the only way to get back to where I was is to keep pushing and working hard, but the gap feels so wide and every effort I push into it in an attempt to get rid of it almost makes it seem to get wider. I tried conjuring some very basic things last night, things I've been using for years, and they were no better than they were when I was ten. The next thing you know, I'll be flying around on a sunflower and getting my ass kicked by Reimu in a matter of minutes." She suddenly chuckled. "Actually, if I'm now as bad as I was then, she could kick my ass all the way to the moon if she wanted to."

"You'll get it all back," Alice said, walking over to Marisa. "After all, you don't have to work as hard to get back where you were. Give me your hand."

Marisa held out her palm, and Alice traced a circle on it with her finger. A faint yellow light emanated from the invisible circle, then quickly died out.

"See," Alice said, withdrawing her finger but still holding onto Marisa's wrist, "The channels for magic are still there. They haven't disappeared just because your ability to use them is gone. All you have to do is to remember how you did it."

Marisa squeezed her hand into a fist, and placed her other hand over Alice's, stroking it gently. "Thanks, Alice. I think I needed that."

Alice smiled back. "Just don't give up and all should be well."

"I won't. And if I'm perfectly honest,"

"For once," Alice interjected.

"Heh, for once. I'm not completely devastated by this. All my enchantments are gone, and I doubt I'll be able to get the same ones back, but I still have the knowledge that allowed me to get up there in the first place. Even if I have hit rock bottom, the rock bottom is higher up than it used to be before. Even if I can never be quite as strong as before..." She shrugged. "I was perfectly content being the second most powerful human in Gensoukyou. If I can climb my way back to that position before continuing on with my research, I'll be happy."

"Good."

Marisa smiled. "Besides, it's not like I'm unhappy right now. I mean, it's a lovely day, I have my best girl by my side, and there will never be a boring moment. It's all good."

Alice reddened and looked at the sky. There were vague flashes in the horizon of looming dark clouds. "Want to return?"

Marisa tilted her head to the side and thought about it for a moment. "No, let's keep going. I want to see what's at the end of this road."

"Probably nothing that interesting. And it looks like it might rain."

Marisa grinned. "Then let it rain. We're not made out of sugar."

"Honestly..." Alice shook her head. "Fine. We'll keep going, then." And despite her protestations, she discovered nothing was easier than following Marisa down the forest path to find out whatever lay ahead of them.


End file.
